| Knowing |
Mar 10th, 2005 09:27 AM |
Aruba Trip report
Sometimes a week’s vacation is all you need to unwind and recharge. My husband and I just returned early this morning from a week at the Radisson in Aruba. From the time we stepped on our United flight, we were ready to leave MN’s winter behind. Because we enjoyed Curacao so much, we were excited to see the differences between the two islands. So many people on the boards have stated that the Radisson was such a nice place and that the dining on Aruba was some of the finest in the Caribbean, that naturally we had high expectations. Our flight went well and we landed somewhere between seven and eight hours later. The airport in Aruba was clean. We had made arrangements with De Palma tours to pick us up and take us to the hotel. We had two stops prior to our arrival at the Radisson. The lobby was not as elaborate as I expected. Check in was a little slow and initially we looked at each other and silently thought, “What have we gotten ourselves into?” Our room was ready, however, the bellman didn’t bring up the luggage. So we found the room on our own and brought our own luggage up. We were not disappointed in the room. It was nicely decorated and spotless. It was overlooking the lagoon and the pool. We lost some of the view because of high trees, but it was still nice. There was a bar and restaurant called Gilligan’s by the pool. We ordered a drink and split a bucket of peel and eat shrimp. Very pleasantly surprised at how good it was. We ate dinner that night at Laguna and again, weren’t expecting much. The food was VERY good. We did a breakfast plan that included an all you can eat buffet. It was good as well and we also received a $150 food and beverages credit as a promotion that was going on. After breakfast the next morning we were ready for a dip in the pool. We had to bring our slip every morning to pick up towels. This was kind of a pain in the neck as it was one more thing to remember to bring. Additionally we were told that if we wanted a hut on the beach we needed to be down there at 7am to sign up for one. The beach is very clean and the sand is extremely fine. Right next-door was a parasailing place. My husband went for his first time and loved it. Not a lot to do at the hotel – Bingo was about it, but we met some nice people who were staying in the next room and they joined us for dinner a couple of times, along with our friends who we were vacationing with from another state. Everyone seemed to be from NJ, NY or Boston.
Our friends had rented a car for the week. They had no problem navigating, but I noticed that the signage is no better in Aruba than it is in Curacao. Some people drive absolutely crazy and just cut right in front of you. We put on plenty of sunscreen and our sunglasses, packed our cooler with beer and went to the California Lighthouse, the natural bridge (full of tourists) to the beaches and shopping.
Some things that stood out: Many people on Aruba had English that wasn’t very good. More so than other islands we’ve visited. Fewer iguanas than some of the other islands, although they were more aggressive, twice they climbed onto the lounge chair with me. Now I love animals, but I didn’t want to be bothered in that way. Just because a menu says lobster doesn’t mean they aren’t out. You need to call that morning and ask. Even though Aruba has constant wind, it wasn’t enough to blow things around. We enjoyed it, as we never got TOO warm.
Most of the restaurants that we ate at were good. The only one that wasn’t was Madame Janettes. We had soup that tasted like it came from a can ($8) and an old butcher steak that was very tough ($49.00). We also ate at Chalet Suisse, Iguana Joe’s, Tango’s, Pincho’s (Wonderful ambiance, but I didn’t care for my food. My husband and our friends thought it was good) Texas de Brazil, Fish and More and Sunset Grille. Tango’s has an early bird dinner before 7pm and it’s very tasty. We got there right at 7pm and they were nice enough to still give it to us. They also provided live free entertainment.
As we prepared to leave, we said it was a nice island and the Radisson was nice, but most of the staff left a lot to be desired. They didn’t seem happy and didn’t smile, except Maria who makes the omelets and the others at the Laguna and they just weren’t helpful. I had made all our reservations for dinner at home, except for two. I asked the dinner reservations person to take care of it. Both places had no reservations for us when we got there. The shopping is pretty much like it is everywhere else and we only bought $113 dollars worth of stuff. We felt very safe there, but would we go back? Probably not. It was a nice escape, we’re glad we went, but we personally still like some of the other islands better.
|
